In June, the IPU’s Centre for Innovation in Parliament organized the 9th World e-Parliament Conference, held virtually for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Conference, run over three days, attracted 650 participants, drawn from 119 national parliaments as well as regional and sub-national parliaments, NGOs and academia. The Conference proved popular, with 95% of participants rating it highly – 57% very highly – and over 90% indicating that they would like to continue the discussion at future events.

The World e-Parliament Report 2020 documents the experiences, innovations and lessons learned in making sure parliaments continued to function during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report is based on data from 116 parliaments and focus groups involving 49 parliaments. Part one of the Report presents the lessons from the pandemic. Part two provides a detailed analysis of the overall ICT situation

For 2021’s virtual World e-Parliament Conference, the IPU’s Centre for Innovation in Parliament asked parliaments what digital innovations they were particularly proud of. As a result, 14 parliaments shared their innovations in what we called the Parliamentary showcase.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Latvian parliament (Saeima) was forced to adopt digital innovations at a speed never witnessed before. In order to ensure that legislators were able to fulfil core parliamentary functions while adhering to physical distancing requirements necessary to limit the spread of the virus, a holistic technological solution was developed, called the “e-Saeima”.

The Tunisian Assembly of People's Representatives has established a comprehensive digital platform dedicated to engaging civil society and promoting participatory democracy in lawmaking and oversight. The platform allows interaction between civil society and elected representatives through five online spaces.

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the South African parliament was quick to adopt digital innovations to ensure continuity of parliamentary functions. Parliamentary meetings were held entirely virtually or in a hybrid format.

The National Assembly of Nicaragua has introduced a legislative impact analysis tool to support the work of MPs and committees in legislation making and post-legislative scrutiny activity. The tool allows for the recording of impact indicators for policy implementation, generating quantitative reports and analyses.